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I'm depressed, my system hurts my ears.Please help

I've been enjoying my stereo for quite some time now, but my latest component addition is hurting my ears. My system is as follows:

Music Hall CD25 CD player
McIntosh MC2105 amp (30 year old amp)
Joseph Audio RM22si signatures
Signal Cable Analog 2 interconnects
Kimber 4TC biwired speaker cable
Denon AVR1700 HT receiver as preamp

With the Denon the system sounded pretty good, but it was the obvious weak link, and was actually performing its own unnecessary A to D to A conversion). I swapped the Denon for a Creek OBH12 passive. I added the Creek because in my careful, volume leveled comparisons of the Denon compared to no pre at all, no pre was much cleaner and more natural (I an use no pre because amp has volume knobs).

So I put in the Creek passive to keep that clarity along with switching and an easy volume control, but now I can't sit in the sweet spot of my speakers and listen, because my ears start to hurt at volume levels that used to be just fine. Is this clipping due to an impedance matching problem? Is this just me receiving the full spectrum of the sound and my ears can't handle it? I remember having a similar problem with a very nice car stereo I installed, it sounded very good but always hurt my ears compared to my worse sounding older car stereo.

I almost wish I had never started down the audiophile path, this is depressing. It's tough to do swapping style comparisons because once my ears start hurting, any music will make them hurt until they have a chance to recover. Any suggestions would be most appreciated.
matt8268
wellfed's avatar
wellfed
690 posts
 
I can't help you with the technical aspects of your system, but I am wondering if you have much glass in your listening room. I have had problems with upgrades increasing resolution, but adding fatigue. Applying Marigo dots to the windows in my listening room has cured this problem each time. I am going through this process again now.
rapogee
242 posts
 
Well I wish I could be there to assist you!
You seem to like the softer sound of music. Try other preamps and maybe consider MIT cables eventhought the Kimber is super but MIT might soften it up a little for your taste.
Try some tube preamps which might mate you Mac a little better, used ARC are often a good choice and they are fairly priced in the used market! An older single bit dac might help as well if you want to keep the cost down. Like the Micormega DAC or the alchemy Dac 1.0 (single bit)!
If carefully shopped, you might do the trick and keeping the cost down. I am not sure if this is what you were looking for but I hope I helped. Good luck!
theo's avatar
theo
2,331 posts
 
My 1st question would be. Does the system seem unusally bright or glaring in the high notes? Have you tried different cables? Are you sure that one of the components has a performance problem?
stne418
90 posts
 
If you have a good relationship with a dealer or fellow musicophile/audiophile see if you can borrow some amp/preamp combo (preferrablyfrom the same manufacturer to eliminate the chances of a mismatch) to audition for an evening. If everything sounds better you can figure you have an electronics problem. I have reservations about the Creek/Mac combo. Nothing real, just a hunch. The equipment is there to help make the MUSIC more enjoyable so don't give up too quickly!
viridian's avatar
viridian
4,184 posts
 
Try a Musical Fidelity X10D between the preamp and amp, it will require another set of interconnects. In addition to curing any impedance mismatches it will add the golden sound of tubes. Used cost around $100.00, too cheap not to try.
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